This invention relates to improvements in bird seed dispensers, in particular to an apparatus for reclaiming seed from husks.
Some species of birds such as Love Birds have wasteful eating habits. Their animated movements in eating and de-husking the seed lead to a significant percentage of seed being scattered around. Unless the seed dispenser is adapted to collect the seed in some way as it is scattered, this seed falls to the bottom of the cage or aviary and becomes difficult to reclaim. Even if the scattered seed is collected, for example on a tray beneath the dispenser, it will be mixed with husks which are inconvenient to remove so that the seed can be reused.
Furthermore, eye problems such as granulomas have been known to result from small pieces of husk becoming lodged on the surface of the eye of a person attempting to blow the husks away, resulting in the need for specialist eye treatment.
Therefore with known dispensers large amounts of seed can be wasted or are difficult to reclaim in a satisfactory manner. In the case of aviaries, seed scattered on the ground can attract mice which can prey on the birds or bring disease.
In addition to the abovementioned problems encountered, known dispensers do not provide any way to collect information on the dietary habits of the birds (analysing what seeds are popular with the birds). It is also difficult to feed controlled diets to one population of birds in a mixed aviary as all birds have access to the food.